


Phlox's blue eyed boy

by GuardianofFun



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Bonding, Father-Son Relationship, Friendship, Gen, Minor Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-03-08 03:26:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13449540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianofFun/pseuds/GuardianofFun
Summary: A little glimpse into Sickbay, and the friendship that's been forged over many-a broken arm and Regulan blood worm. Honestly, sometimes Phlox feels like the only responsible adult onboard; these humans are so young and reckless.





	Phlox's blue eyed boy

**Author's Note:**

> A gift for a friend in an art swap we did! I brought together our favourites to have a look at their friendship because lbr they're besties for life!! 
> 
> Also we know soooo little about Phlox's family so i uh.. took some creative liberties with them?

To say that Phlox was surprised when Lieutenant Reed walked into his sickbay first thing in the morning would not be entirely accurate. The man had his unfortunate habit of walking headfirst into injury, as evidenced by the not yet fully healed cut above his brow, a souvenir from a rock fall in a cave he had been exploring yesterday. 

No, it was more the fact that the lieutenant came with no new injures that surprised the good doctor. Peering over his aquarium, he smiled at Reed, getting one in return.

“Good morning lieutenant,” he called as he threw the last of his worms into the tank, watching as the Antaran crabs fought over it. 

“How are you feeling this morning?” he asked. Reed strode across the room, hands clasped behind his back. As Phlox spoke, one came up to brush against the mark on his forehead. 

“Much better thanks to you, I can barely feel it,” he said, though Phlox didn’t miss the small wince flash across Reed’s face. With a lighthearted sigh, Phlox crossed the room to meet him, taking a hypospray from his desk as he did so. He offered it out as he fixed Reed with the best stern look he could though it was hard to truly despair of the man, he reminded Phlox so much of Klaban, a nephew of his. He’d always been a quiet boy, reserved, especially for a Denobulan, but there was always a light in his eyes, humour bubbling away just beneath the surface. And they had remarkably similar eyes, both capable of that look Captain Archer called ‘puppy eyes’. It rather endeared Phlox to the young man. It didn’t make him any less of a terrible patient though.

“I do wish you wouldn’t lie to me Mr. Reed,” he scolded, pressing the spray to the lieutenant’s proffered neck. “I can, ah what is the phrase? See straight over you?” Reed’s face softened as the mild painkiller worked its magic, and he smiled.

“See straight through me, perhaps?” he suggested, crossing his arms over his chest. Phlox nodded, tipping the spray towards him in acknowledgement. “Yes that’s it, you’re very easy to read, Mr. Reed.” Chucking at his own joke, he turned to tidy away the spray. Reed huffed, and Phlox didn’t need to look to know that the indignant frown had appeared on the officer’s face. 

“I’ve been told I’m usually pretty hard to read, actually.” Phlox shook his head. 

“Not to this old man, Lieutenant. You forget, though I look as young and dashing as ever, I’m a father and a grandfather, many times over. I know all the knacks to reading surly teenagers and petulant children. I consider myself very proficient at reading people.” Reed snorted, glancing away as his cheeks turned pink. 

“What’s that make me? The moody teenager, I hope.” At that, Phlox laughed aloud, and it got a bigger smile from the lieutenant in response. 

“I suppose yes,” Phlox said as he wiped a tear from his eye. “I  _ can  _ see a lot of my grandson Yolen in you, he has the same ah… shall we call it, the natural affinity for trouble?” Reed’s arms fell from his chest as he let out a laugh, hands finding their way into his pockets as his shoulders shook. 

“Is that Captain Archer calls it?” 

Phlox grinned. “I’m sure he words it differently in the reports back to Starfleet.” Reed nods, then the smile turns into a sigh. 

“Speaking of, I should be getting to engineering, I did promise Trip I’d help with the data readings from the caves,” he said apologetically. Phlox waved a hand. 

“Of course! Just please, Lieutenant, I know what the pair of you are like.” Reed’s head snapped up, wide eyed and faux innocence hiding a barely suppressed grin. 

“Whatever do you mean doctor?” 

“I don’t expect you back in my sickbay for a long time Mr. Reed, unless you’re offering to feed my blood worms!” 

Oddly enough, that offer had the lieutenant scarpering out at warp speed, though he called over his shoulder that he would see Phlox that night at the movie viewing. Phlox watched the much younger man vanish, affection sweeping through him.

Though he was not particularly old by Denobulan standards, Reed’s compariosn was fairly accurate; humans were so young in contrast that at times Phlox felt he was taking care of a classroom rather than a crew. They had the class clown (his mind flickered to Commander Tucker), the stickler for the rules (very much Sub-Commander T’Pol, he thought), and the one who was incapable of following the rules (that description had Captain Archer down to a tee). Malcolm Reed though, was the quiet one. For a while, it had worried Plox. 

He clearly was not used to the easy kind of friendship many of his colleagues had shared the moment they boarded Enterprise, and it had seemed for some time that not everyone found him easy to get along with. Through some strange kind of luck the lieutenant found himself in sickbay enough that Phlox could keep an eye on him, and the doctor found himself feeling like some sort of adopted father to the man, especially when Hoshi told him what the real man was like. 

Now Reed had carved himself a place aboard, found that he fit in quite well with the crew and it warmed Phlox’s heart, especially when Reed made a point to still stop by sickbay when he wasn’t suffering some new malady, despite how much he claimed to hate the place. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!! <3


End file.
